James has helped build and lead a high-quality finance team at Shire. We are very grateful to him for his interim leadership over the past seven months, and his many contributions to Shire in almost ten years with the Company. We wish him well in his future endeavors.

Over the weekend, the Sunday Times reported Shire is in discussions with acquisition targets including NPS Pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceutical firm Cubist.

AbbVie recommended its shareholders vote against the proposed $54bn deal to buy UK drugmaker Shire last week, ending the takeover bid and knocking Shire’s shares down nearly 30 per cent by Friday.

AbbVie said it would rethink the acquisition in the wake of the US Treasury’s plans to curb so-called tax inversion deals. Shire is due to publish its third quarter financial results at the end of this week.